Questor Insurance News

Parents continue to holiday with kids during term-time, despite fines

According to recent research, the number of parents taking their kids away for a holiday during term-time has risen over the past year despite there being fines in place for such action.

In a poll of 2,000 parents with children aged 5-16 years from across the country, a massive four in ten have taken their kids away during school time.

This is up from just over a third who did the same one year ago with the increase in parents taking this action thought to be driven by rising holiday prices and low holiday availability at work during peak travel times.

Parents struggle with holidays

According to the survey, more than half of parents struggled to secure holiday from work outside of term-time and this led them to consider holidays at other times.

Last year, only 38% of parents felt the same showing that this change in holiday availability at work could be driving parent decisions.

As well as this, the average cost of holidays was also considered to be a key influence on travel habits.

Although parents can now be fined for taking their children out of school unnecessarily during term-time there are suggestions that these fines may actually be less that the difference they’d pay in holiday costs to travel at peak times.

On average, parents can expect to foot an extra £1,200 for a Spanish holiday taken in the school holidays as opposed to during term-time.

This is considerably higher than the average penalty imposed on parents for taking their children out of school for a holiday – £60 per child at some councils – and explains why some parents may be willing to risk a fine in order to save money in the long-run.

Holidaying with the kids

For anyone considering taking their kids on holiday this year it is important to remember that penalties are not the only repercussion of taking children out of school for holidays.

A child’s education can also be impacted by unnecessary absences so it is always recommended that parents book their trips to coincide with school holidays.

Many advance and last-minute deals can be found to help lower the overall cost of a family break away and parents can get around poor holiday availability at work by booking their leave in advance or shortening the length of their trips.

Opting for a staycation instead of holidaying abroad could also help to reduce travel costs and make it easier to get away.

If you are thinking of taking a family holiday this year, whether abroad or at home, then it is important that you arrange family travel insurance in advance of your trip